Profile
Candice Ashmore-Harris
My CV
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Education:
The Cooper School, Bicester, Oxfordshire [GCSEs]; Gosford Hill School, Kidlington, Oxfordshire [A Levels]; University College London [BSc]; University of Kent [MSc]; King’s College London [MRes and PhD]
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Qualifications:
GCSEs: English Language, English Literature, Science (x2), Applied Business (x2), Fine Art, Philosophy & Ethics, Maths, Statistics, German. A levels: Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Further Maths.
Degrees: Human Sciences BSc (Hons), Cancer Biology (MSc), Biomedical & Translational Science (MRes), Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine/Imaging Sciences PhD
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Work History:
I’ve just started my first research job since finishing my PhD. Before my PhD I had a full-time job as a technician in a lab, growing cells for experiments, making solutions, and running basic tests (such as those to test cells for contamination with bacteria). I also worked as a teaching assistant for primary school science lessons at a school in Delhi, India as part of a cultural exchange program run by the British Council.
During my undergraduate degree I had many part-time jobs including working as a university ambassador (the kind you’d meet at open days), a transition mentor (these are 2nd and 3rd year students who help new university students in the first year of the course adjust to university life). I even worked at the Wimbledon tennis competition and Silverstone races during the summer holidays!
My first job was a local paper round when I was 13! When I was 16 I worked as a shop/sales assistant and in the last year of my A Levels I worked weekends in a pub alongside my studies.
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Current Job:
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
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Read more
The liver is responsible for many important functions in the body, including filtering the blood from the digestive tract, before passing it to the rest of the body. It also detoxifies chemicals and metabolizes drugs. Liver disease, where the liver is damaged so that it cannot properly perform its functions, is the fifth highest cause of death in the UK. Currently, the only cure is to transplant a whole replacement liver (or lobe of a liver if a living donor is used).
Unfortunately, there are not enough donor organs for all the patients that need a transplant. My research spans a field called ‘regenerative medicine’ where we look at how we can repair the damaged organ or engineer the patient’s tissue such as through donor cell transplants to help it function normally again so that hopefully they will no longer need a transplant, or can live longer without one.
Cell therapies involve transplanting living cells (rather than replacing the whole organ) to treat a patient. My research looks at how we can monitor the survival of these cells inside the models of liver disease we use in the lab (usually mice) before we use them to treat patients. One of these cell therapies is the hepatocyte cell. Hepatocytes make up 80% of the liver cell population and are needed for many of the key functions of the liver including producing many proteins and enzymes vital for normal health. By transplanting lots of healthy hepatocytes into patients the hope is they will function well enough to restore their health. To make sure these therapies are safe and effective we first have to monitor them in animal models, to do this I modify them to produce an extra protein called a reporter protein. This reporter protein can take up specific substances called radiotracers, which include a radioactive isotope. Cells with this reporter protein will specifically take up the radiotracers in the body. We can then image the decay of the radioactive isotope portion of the radiotracer using medical imaging scanners such as single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) or positron emission tomography (PET).
By combining these SPECT or PET images with x-rays from computed tomography (CT) we can determine if the cells have remained where we transplanted, how long they stay there, what proportion are still alive and work on methods to improve this.
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My Typical Day:
There is no such thing as a typical day! My days can include: planning, setting-up or performing experiments, analysing or writing reports of the results from experiments, discussing science with other people in the lab or presenting my data to members of my lab, other scientists or the general public!
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My Interview
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What did you want to be after you left school?
A scientist, but I wasn't sure what kind so I chose a broad undergraduate science degree that would give me plenty of opportunities to learn about different areas of science.
What's your favourite food?
Sushi!
Tell us a joke.
What's a pirate's favourite amino acid? Arrrrrrrginine
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